Last week I started noticing a noise on my truck that got faster as the I drove faster and slowed down as I slowed down. It was coming from the front left corner. I jacked the truck up and inspected my springs, my shocks, the draglink etc. but everything seemed fine. The noise got louder every day. On wednesday I drive it to the cruise in down town over 2 high traffic bridges and get there safe. I meet up my uncle at the cruise-in and tell him about it. He told me it could be a few things, but maybe one of my lugs was loose. I drive home carefully, jack it up, pop off my hub-cap, and what do I see? 4 lugs are loose. And I mean hand loose. The noise started happening after I parked it at my school one day, and not at my buddys house. I call my uncle and he tells me it could've turned out way worse, my wheel couldve fallen off and I probably would've been in some mayor trouble on the highway. He said this kind of thing doesnt just happen, someobdy probably loosened them on purpose. I was shocked. Ah well, now I know what that noise is and the complications associated with it eh?

Glad to hear that it was an easy fix. Be thankful you found out about it before it was to late

I always hated those guys who mess with others cars like that. I had someone at my high school break into my truck and switch the plug wires around on it. Took me a while to figure that one out, but still pisses ya off.
Until a buddy of mine wrecked his blazer and drove around without a hood or fender for a couple weeks...it was easy to switch his plug wires around for quick laugh, but I told him what I did after watching him sit in the school parking lot cussin it out for a while. that was funny

Reminds me of the time I dropped by '76 Chevy pickup off a a friend's tire shop for a set of new wheels, tires and a state inspection. I picked it up after work, drove home and went out to mow the lawn. My daughter was about 2 at the time and she as out looking at the shiney new wheels on the truck. She came running up to me and handed me a lug nut (I thought "that's strange, looks just like the new ones on the truck"). Not being a believer in coincidence, I checked the lug nuts and there wasn't a tight one on there... some almost backed all the way off. My daughter must have grabbed one that was only being held on by one thread. I called my friend in the morning to tell him about it and he fired the guy that had worked on my truck on the spot.

with a truck as old as yours I am assuming that the lugs & studs are original.
believe it or not they can wear out.
you need to inspect each & everyone with a magnifying glass for stress cracking.

I have had this happen with lugs & studs.
one time I was ways out in the Ocala National forest in my LeMans & i pulled out of a store & something just felt a little funny i didn't think about it until the the next time I pulled out & I heard a little ping {i guess} from the R/R tire.

So i pulled over & took a peek
!!!! 3 studs broke & gone!
So here I am in bum F**k Egypt so I jacked it up took the wheel off to look the other 2 were getting ready to let go. so I limped it home & replaced all of them.

Also I have had Pontiac rocker arm nuts { a top lock nut} fail on my & under a magnifying glass you can see cracks in the nuts usually 6 of them I should still have them some where lemme see if I can find them
but any way sorry for the long post inspect the m lugs & studs

R

__________________
"SlowRide66"

"Illegitimis non carborundum"
Don't let the bastards grind you down!

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To bad about the lugs but ALWAYS chech with a wrench or 4-way at a tire shop. Reason being their equipment gets used continously and compressor could be low on pressure, impact worn or dry even the socket could have been worn and slipping. I know one shop that checks every lug in the torque pattern with a torque wrench! They want you alive so you can buy more tires later. I had a squeak develop one time I could not find, but my front end alignment mechanic found a cotter pin that had turned and was hitting the dust cover.

I had a 59 chevy impala and was home from college for the summer, out driving in the country on a moon-lit evening impressing the heck out of my really nice date, thinking I was about the coolest guy in the world. And suddenly I see a WHEEL passing me on the left. And it was one of MY wheels. Off the left rear. Rolling right up along side and passing me.

The car stayed upright (until I pulled over and stopped) and I easily chased down the wheel from the ditch and put it back on borrowing a nut from each of the other three wheels to get me back home. But it sure didn't do much for my ego or for any extra curricular activities with my date.

Lesson learned: Always keep your nuts where they belong.

__________________
Always learning...and sharing what I've learned. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Back in the mid seventies, before I had a car or a drivers license, 4 friends and I were being carpooled to the local high school for basketball practice. My friends sister was driving her Corvair. We round a corner and we suddenly hear what sounded like something rattling around in the hubcap.

We convinced the gal to pull over, jumped out and popped off the hubcap. (2) of the four studs were broken off, and of course they were side by side to each other. She limped the chevy into town, running about 10 mph the entire way.

Hubcaps..... your audio warning device of pending disasters. Us mag wheel guys wouldn't have been so lucky. But then again who would put mags on a Corvair?

Couple months ago I was sitting in the parking lot at work eating my lunch when a kid pulls in in his 70's Z28, inspects his front passenger tire then hops in the car and drives back and forth, once again he hops out and inspects the front passenger tire. He then hops in to drive away, backs up, the car jumped like he had run over a speed bump and the front DRIVERS side tire rolled out in front of the car and fell over. I damn near choked on my sandwhich, funniest thing I had ever seen, he just sat there staring straight ahead for a few minuites before calling his dad.

Had it happen to me two weeks ago.
Had my rears balanced and when driving the next day it was like being
shook up in a mixer, at 80 my teeth were rattling.
I checked my rear lug nuts and only two on each side were finger tight.
From now on I will torque them after taking it to a tire guy.
In fact my tire guy is an oldcar and American car fan, he has a 66 Mustang coupe all original, a 1925 Chevy Superior and a 1976 Ford truck, it was his
hoppo who did my wheels, we were talking cars.
I will be going back when I get time to wring him out a little.
If a wheel has been rattling around due to loose lug nuts best to check the
wheel hasīnt chopped into the lugs.

Aaahhhh...the ole' lugnut stories I had the same thing hapen to me in high school. Went to lunch, going up Main St. a little too fast, front wheel flies off, rolls up, hits one car and into the front of a cop car. Uh-Oh!!! He was nice about it and told me it has happend to a few others at school. I don't know if they ever caught who was doing it though. It could have been way worse on any other road other than in town. Say like going down the highway.
Mike....if you suspect someone at school doing it, buy two sets of locking lugs and put two on each wheel. That way the wheel will not come off if they loosen all of the others. What pisses ya off though is someone does it mainly because they are jealous of what you have, and they don't want to work for the same thing

Cboy I laughed pretty hard at that, you know your have a slow car when your own wheel is beating you
These definitly didnt come loose by themselves. All the threads are fine and the studs still have their conical shape etc. I already inspected them.
I wont take it to school anymore, specially cause my last day of school was thursday and Im done my required 12 years of highschool education

Just ditch the hub caps. According to the yo-yos at one of our friendly local tire stores, if you leave the hub caps off, the rain will cause the lug nuts to get tighter. So tight, in fact, than an I-R 231 running on 125psi won't get them off.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Hot Rod Forum : Hotrodders Bulletin Board forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name (usually not your first and last name), your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Insurance

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.